ARTHUR LOK JACK: MASTER ENTREPRENEURby From the 'Plannings' in Nelson Street to the head of a food products empire stretching from Trinidad and Tobago to MalaysiaEntrepreneurs usually have that something extra that causes them to shine among their peers - it might be a groundbreaking idea, an inspiring story or simply the all-out determination to make it big. Arthur Lok Jack's story has all the ingredients of an entrepreneurial classic, and then some. At the Ernst and Young Caribbean Entrepreneur of the Year awards earlier this month, Lok Jack, 57, was honoured as the Master Entrepreneur of the Year. His career has a fairy tale element to it. Born on the wrong side of the tracks, Lok Jack worked small jobs for awhile, then took a chance on a company that existed on paper only. He has transformed that entity into Associated Brands Investments Ltd which generated a $400 million turnover last year. The group's food products tingle taste buds not only in Trinidad and Tobago but in almost 50 other countries as well. Impressive when you look at the popular but inexpensive range of items Associated Brands manufactures. A new wave of toddlers and pre-teens routinely munch on Charles chocolates, Ping Pong chocolate-coated nuts and Sunshine Snacks corn curls while their Gen-X parents dig into Universal Foods cereals and Devon biscuits. They are but a few of the products produced by the Lok Jack entrepreneurial empire. In an interview at one of Associated's factories in San Juan, Lok Jack recalls how he started the business in 1972. Then 27, he remembers his mentor and friend Vernon Charles conceiving the notion of building a chocolate factory in Trinidad. The company was 'virtually stillborn', Lok Jack says before he took over the enterprise from Charles whose interest was captured elsewhere. Young, just married and not wealthy, Lok Jack says he pounced on an opportunity to make a go of the company. It was a decision that up to today, defines him as a successful risk taker. Lok Jack says he had the foresight to buy land around the area. In the very early days, he drove the bulldozer himself, clearing and excavating the virgin soil where the factory would one day reside. He mortgaged the house, rallied some partners and wife Glenda borrowed funds from the credit union at Neal an Massy where she worked as an executive secretary. The name was retained as the Charles Candy Co (now a division of Associated) and the initial board and shareholders were stalwarts like Pat Young Sing, Shaffique Sultan-Khan and Tajmool Hosein. Lok Jack completed the first plant with a loan from Development Finance Ltd. A 20 percent equity owned by chocolate maker Savoy in Venezuela was taken over by a Wall Street buyout firm. Ever the corporate heavy hitter, Lok Jack flew to Chicago and bought back the shares. From then onwards, "we did very well", Lok Jack says, careful to not use dirty words like profits. But profits piled up anyway, and the company expanded its range into Sunshine Snacks. Later came breakfast cereals and biscuits. Lok Jack is regarded as one of the foremost entrepreneurs at least partly because of his vision to look beyond the physical limitations of a tiny local market. He went as far as Malta and established a factory which exported snack foods to North Africa, Lebanon and some of the Gulf states. Malta was chosen because of the good incentives offered. Another factory was established in Malaysia through a good rapport with that territory's Royal family. It was sold to Nestle about six years ago. Substantial investments in four chocolate plants was sold to large French group as well. Then when trade barriers started coming down and Latin America opened up, the master entrepreneur immediately moved in. "We became very aggressive there but even when we were going through boom periods (in Trinidad), we were looking for new opportunities," Lok Jack says. A duty-free, multi-million consumer market revealed itself in Venezuela and Associated Brands entered. Today, having conquered the language and Spanish labeling issues, its Universal cereal brand's biggest market is there. Here at home, Associated is one of the largest industrial companies, employing 1,000 people in four factories. The group owns distribution offices in Barbados, Jamaica an St Lucia and has marketing officers in Venezuela, Ireland and Malaysia. As chairman of a group exporting to about 50 countries, Lok Jack has come a long way from his humble beginnings growing up in the 'plannings' of Nelson Street, Port of Spain. His father moved from China and Lok Jack was born in St James in 1944 after which the family moved to Nelson Street. "Had I stayed there, in that very depressed area with things like the steelband wars," Lok Jack says he probably would not have got as far as he has. An only child, young Arthur was a passionate, avid reader and was particularly enraptured by biographies of successful entrepreneurs. The family eventually moved to Woodbrook, Lok Jack went to Queen's Royal College and joined Neal & Massy at 18 as an office boy. There was a career change to Barclays Bank, then Sterling Drugs where he sold Cafenol tablets and Milk of Magnesia to just everywhere in the country. It was here Lok Jack says he got interested in marketing. Without the benefit of tertiary education, Lok Jack read every marketing textbook he could find and signed up for every course on the subject. Lok Jack was offered a directorship of Taurel and CO at a "very early age" and absorbed information and experience from others. It paid off and today he is recognised as an expert in export policies. A shrewd, smart businessman with an easygoing nature and quick laugh, Lok Jack believes globalisation is a great benefit to exporters living in small markets like Trinidad. Expanding into larger, accessible foreign markets has to be an option if an exporter wants to stay at the top of his game. His advice to any young entrepreneur is along the lines of "Chinese Economics" - work long, hard hours and come home too tired to party and spend too much money on leisure. This way, you move up at the job and you save money at the same time. Over the years, as the group has grown, he has learned to spend time with the family. A favourite pastime is spending weekends at the home down the islands. To be a success, though, he says "remember to choose what you want to do and do it well. And don't live the high life before you've made it." |